In general and as shown in FIG. 1B, the housing H of a conventional connector U (e.g., LC type uniboot connector U) re-directs the fibers A, B from the cable entrance axis C to a pair of ferrule axes F1, F2. This typically requires each fiber A, B to bend at least twice, once to leave the axis C of the cable, and again to align with the axis F1, F2 of the ferrule to which it is terminated.
In general, the housing H internals are an empty space, providing room for the fibers A, B to flex, which for buffered and loose-tube fiber (e.g., fiber with a 600 μm or greater overall diameter) may be tolerable (e.g., so long as preparation lengths are well-controlled, and bend-optimized fiber is employed).
However, as cable quantities have increased, the market has been pushing for smaller and therefore lighter cable constructions. For example, such lighter cable constructions can employ coated fiber with a 250 μm diameter only. The small flexural modulus of such fiber construction means that it may naturally bend along a much tighter radius than buffered fiber would under equivalent load conditions. As a result, the fiber can bend to the point where the coating (e.g., plastic coating) can buckle, especially at the points where it exits the cable (C), and/or enters the ferrule (F1, F2), leading to unacceptably high insertion loss, and potentially to fracture of the fiber. This is what may be termed as a “macrobend” failure, and can be typified by a much higher insertion loss value at greater wavelengths.
For example, in single mode fiber testing, the 1310 nm and 1550 nm wavelengths are commonly examined simultaneously. A failed sample of this kind can exhibit much higher insertion loss at 1550 nm than at 1310 nm, though if the bend is sufficiently severe it may be unacceptable at both wavelengths. Further, because the fiber coating is typically polymeric, and thus prone to creep, insertion loss failures may take several days to fully manifest, enabling the product to pass factory inspection, or even during installation, only to fail later on.
Thus, an interest exists for improved connectors and related components, and related methods of use. These and other inefficiencies and opportunities for improvement are addressed and/or overcome by the assemblies, systems and methods of the present disclosure.